Pension shortfalls 'have cost UK firms £182bn since QE’

British employers have pumped £182bn into defined-benefit pension schemes since the start of quantitative easing in 2009 as they grapple with growing deficits, the latest figures show.

Figures from the pension regulator and Pension Protection Fund reveal that in the 2012-2013 financial year, employers injected £29bn of deficit reduction contributions, plus a further £18bn of “special” payments to plug widening shortfalls.

While the regular contributions fell from £36bn in the previous year, the figures show employers are being forced to chip in rising amounts of special payments to tackle deficits.

Such payments have continued to rise over the past four years – from £10bn in the year quantitative easing (QE) was launched to £18bn in the latest year. Since Britain embarked on its £375bn QE blitz to boost the recovery, employers with final-salary schemes have been hit by a triple whammy of depressed asset returns, rising liabilities and increased longevity.

But, while there is growing optimism that the worst may be over, with the Bank of England signalling a possible return to rising interest rates by 2015, a new report highlights the risks from future monetary policy – and the difficulties companies have in predicting future contributions.

The report, by economics consultancy Fathom Consulting and Pension Corporation, the insurer for defined benefit schemes, outlines three possible scenarios based on the outlook for inflation and index-linked yields in the UK – a key driver of the funding position of most schemes.

In the worst case, dubbed “financial repression”, the report finds that employers could be forced to inject another £250bn over the next 10 years – a sum close to the gross operating surplus, before interest payments or tax, of all private-sector non-financial corporations in 2012.

A second scenario recognises that the downturn has damaged UK productivity and the pick-up in demand sparks inflation. That would leave firms facing £26bn of deficit contributions.

In the most benign scenario for employers with final-salary pensions, spare capacity in the UK economy curbs inflation, and yields normalise. This would see a funding requirement of a mere £100,000.

Mark Gull, co-head of asset management at Pension Corporation, said: “Huge sums have been paid out by UK corporates in an effort to close pension deficits, with very little to show for it. This is money that could have been productively invested in jobs and developing business. Yet, sponsors still face the risk that they could be on the hook for an additional £250bn.”

Danny Gabay, director at Fathom Consulting, said: “Contributions from scheme sponsors depend in large part on the outlook for inflation, how the Bank of England reacts to this, and how market rates respond to both.”